Means for driving and braking shuttles for circular looms



Oct. 17, 1967 MALCHAlR 3,347,279

MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec. 28, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR,

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MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec. 28, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR 1 A Mada/7:11.?

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MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec. 28, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig.5

I N VEN TOR,

A, Mal/chair BY 6ud-u hfg Oct. 17, 1967 A. MALCHAER 3,347,279

MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec. 28, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR.

A. Mal/chair BY A TORNE&S

Oct. 17, 1967 A. MALCHAIR 3,347,279

MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec. 28, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR,

AJVa/chcu'r BY quawmgw V ATTQTANEBS 1957 A. MALCHA IR MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LOOMS Filed Dec a. 2a, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 'INVENTOR. A, Malchcu'r BY Glad/Wa g A TTo VAN Gas United States Patent ()fiiice 3,347,279 Patented Oct. 17, 1967 3,347,279 MEANS FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING SHUTTLES FOR CIRCULAR LGOMS Armand Malchair, Herstal, Belgium, assignor to Societe Auonyme llwan Simonis, S.A., Verviers, llleigium Filed Dec. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 421,517 Claims priority, application France, Dec. 36, 1963, 958,819, Patent 1,388,875 Claims. (Cl. 13913) been proposed. These may be divided into four main categories, namely self-propelled shuttles, magnetic drives, controls using gear or meshing and controls using thrust.

Self-propelled shuttles at present proposed are generally provided with an electric motor fed by a current which is generated, in armatures carried by the shuttle, by an electrical field, for example a polyphase rotary field. Although this solution is technically attractive it is much handicapped by great difficulties in synchronisation, controlling the speed of the shuttles and braking the latter when threads break. Moreover it involves a relatively heavy, bulky and expensive installation.

Magnetic driving of the shuttles, for example by means of a magnet carried at the end of a limb of a cruciform element driven by the central shaft of the loom, poses problems chiefly of weight and of great inertia in braking and necessitates very frequent adjustment during weaving, due to the wobbling of the shuttle in relation to its driving electrornagnet. Moreover braking is extremely slow and there is a danger of serious problems arising owing to concentration of electrically charged dust or fibres on the shuttle. Devices using mesh, whether they are formed by a series of gears distributed around the track and acting on a rack rigidly connected to the shuttle, or by one or more pairs of gears engaging in the cloth of warp threads, generally bring disturbances and considerable stresses on the said warp threads and/ or constitute great obstacles to the opening and closing of the shed. Furthermore they pose problems of lubrication and require frequent cleaning.

Finally, hitherto known means using thrust generally comprise a plurality of radial levers or followers which are pivoted between their ends on a fixed shaft, the outer end of which in respect of the centre of the loom passes through the lower shed and acts on a duly profiled element of the shuttle or or its shoe as a result of the action .of a rotary or frictional cam on the other end of said levers.

Devices of this type make it possible for each shuttle to be positively guided and braked progressively and for an adjustable time.

However, these known devices are bulky and expensive in view of the shape, dimensions and number of levers or followers required. Should one or more followers be broken or prematurely worn, their replacement is a long and delicate operation which involves immobilising the loom for a long time. Moreover the upkeep and accessibility of the loom are complicated thereby, while the severe friction inherent in these known devices causes the levers or followers to wear down rapidly.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for controlling the shuttles of circular looms, of the type comprising a plurality of mobile followers 0r plates of which the corrugation fits into a groove in the shuttle and thereby pushes the latter in front of itself so that the shuttle is guided positively in its displacement, in which the control members and the thrust elements are engraved in a cylindrical surface coaxial with the weaving ring, the said surface being in the immediate vicinity of the track of the shuttle.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a drive means which is extremely simple and inexpensive, which involves no appreciable disturbance of the warp threads and which does not necessitate any lubrication.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device in which the thrust elements act parallel with the surface guiding the shuttles.

Finally, another object of the invention is to provide such a device in which frictional resistances are reduced to negligible values.

The driving and braking means for shuttles for circular looms according to the invention substantially comprise a plurality of regularly spaced thrust members, the axes of which are directed along the generatrices of a cylindrical surface coaxial with the surface guiding the shuttles and in the immediate vicinity of said surface.

According to one of the features of the invention the ends of the thrust members are engaged by or engage mobile surfaces, displacement of which is adapted to cancel out any relative translatory movement between said mobile surfaces and the ends of the thrust members.

In order to clarify the features and advantages of the invention means made in accordance with the latter will now be described, purely by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawings. In these:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a circular loom equipped with the shuttle-driving device accordin g to the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a radial section taken along the line II-II in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic elevation of the drive means according to the invention, shown in the position of positive action;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3, the means being shown in the position of negative action or braking;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation of an embodiment of the shuttle-driving means according to the invention;

FIGURE 6 is a front view of a different embodiment of the control means for the shuttle-driving device, and

FIGURE 7 is a section along the line VII-VII in FIGURE 5.

The means for driving and braking shuttles according to the invention may be generally adapted to all types of circular loom, for example a loom as shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings. In order to locate the device in the loom, the main elements of the latter will now be listed as an indication.

The loom illustrated, of the type comprising a plurality of small straight looms disposed in a circle, chiefly comprises three beams 1, compensators 2, drawing-in mechanisms 3, the selector 4 carried by the drum 5, shuttles 6, the weaving ring 7, the winding drums 8 for the fabric, the feet 9 and the supervising platform 10.

The shuttle-driving means according to the invention substantially comprise a plurality of push rods 11, of which the axes are located along the generatrices of an imaginary cylindrical surface coaxial with the weaving ring 7 and outside the latter. The push rods 11 are held in this position by engaging in the holes 12, 13 bored in the two respective limbs 14 and 15 of an annular section 16. The push rods 11 can slide freely in the holes 12, 13 and be normally maintained, by their weight, in the low position opposite a stop 17 mounted on each rod and resting on the inner face of the lower limb 15 of said annular section 16. The lower and upper ends 18 and 19 respectively of each push rod 11 are rounded.

The shuttle 6 is carried on one face of a plate 20, the other face of which is provided with two opposed slides 21 and 22 respectively which engage the rounded crests of two rows of pins 23 and 24 respectively. The latter are carried by annular members 25 and 26 and form the track of the shuttles 6.

The warp threads 27 and 28 forming the shed pass through the two annular combs formed by the pins 23 and 24. In its lowest position the lower cloth 27 is engaged and/or crossed by the upper rounded ends 19 of the push rods 11 when the latter are in a position of rest, so as to distribute the threads of the cloth on either side of each push rod 11 and thus avoid any danger of the threads being straddled over one or more rods during the rising movement of the latter.

The shuttle plate 20 is provided on its inner face in respect of the centre of the loom with a hollow or concave cam 29 of bell-shaped section having two symmetrical slopes 30 and 31, hereinafter referred to respectively as the positive face and the negative face of the cam 29.

The lower ends 18 of the push rods 11 are cyclically acted on by a movable cam 32 of bell-shaped section corresponding to that of the cam 29 having two symmetrical slopes 33 and 34, hereinafter referred to respectively as the thrust face and the drag face.

The movable cam 32 is carried by an assembly driven by the rotary means of the loom, for example by the drum by means of the support 35, in such a way that its lobe 36 is located immediately below the lower ends 18 of the push rods 11.

The device operates as follows: the cam 32 driven by the mobile assembly of the loom engages the lower ends 18 of the push rods 11 with its thrust face 33 and gradual 1y raises said rods. The rising movement of the push rods causes the upper end 19 to push against the positive face 30 of the cam 29. This thrust force is divided into a normal force and a force at a tangent to the face 30. The normal force and the force of reaction from the guiding track of the shuttle result in the desired progression of the shuttle, while the tangential force is absorbed by the frictional resistances of the ends 19 on the cam 29.

It should be noted that the deflection imparted to the warp threads by their distribution on either side of each of the push rods 11 does not involve any hypertension prejudicing the latter, in view of the thinness of the rods.

In order to brake the shuttles 6 it is sufficient gradually and vigorously to immobilise the movable assembly of the frame, in this instance the drum 5, using the normal braking device. The inertia of the shuttle 6 will cause the negative face 31 of the hollow cam 39 to come into contact with the upper end 9 of the push rods 11, which gradually form an abutment until the shuttle 6 is totally immobilised.

In one embodiment of a device according to the invention the hollow cam 29 is replaced, with a view to reducing frictional stresses, by two idle rollers 37 and 38 respectively, and the mobile cam 32 is formed by an endless belt 39 resting on three rollers 40, 41 and 42, the dimensions of the latter and the position of their respective axes being such that the belt 39 constantly has a thrust slope 33 and a drag slope 34 during its rotation.

In yet another embodiment the mobile cam 32 is in the form of a shoe 43 with a thrust slope 44 and drag slope 45, an idle roller 46 being provided between the slopes 43 and 44.

In yet another embodiment the mobile cam 32 may be formed by a single idle roller of large diameter.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention each push rod 11 is provided with a clip grip 47 forming the abutment 17 mentioned above. A return spring 48 is mounted freely about each push rod 11 between the limbs 14 and 15 of said annular section 16 in order to ensure the rapid return of the push rods from their raised position onto the drag surface 3 of the mobile cam 32.

The push rods 11 and/or the annular section 16 will preferably be made of a self-lubricating material.

The invention is obviously not restricted to the examples described above, and the various components may be modified in any way without going outside its scope.

What I claim is:

1. In a circular loom having a weaving ring and a plurality of shuttles, a device for driving and braking the shuttles, said device comprising an annular section having two limbs with holes formed therein, a plurality of push rods slidable in said holes, stops carried by said push rods and adapted to engage said limbs, two spaced annular members, pins carried by said annular members and having rounded crests, a shuttle-carrying plate, slides carried by said plate and engaging the crests of said pins, said pins forming a track for the shuttle, means connected with said plate and consecutively engaged by the ends of said push rods for moving said shuttle-carrying plate, and movable means consecutively engaging opposite ends of said push rods for actuating said push rods.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first-mentioned means comprise a cam having two symmetrically opposed slanting slopes for engagement with the first-mentioned ends of said push rods and wherein the second-mentioned means comprise a cam having two symmetrically opposed slanting slopes corresponding to the first-mentioned slopes for engagement with the second-mentioned ends of said push rods.

3. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the first-mentioned means comprise two idle rollers for engagement with the first-mentioned ends of said pins and wherein the second-mentioned means comprise an endless belt and rollers engaging said belt to form a thrust slope and a drag slope therein for engagement with the second-mentioned ends of said pins.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein the second-mentioned means comprise a shoe having a thrust slope and a drag slope for engagement with the secondmentioned ends of said pins and an idle roller between said slopes.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1, comprising return springs enclosing said push rods.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,002,194 5/1935 Timberlake 139-133 2,010,079 8/1935 Hale et al. 13913 2,185,446 1/1940 Schwichtenberg 13913 2,248,282 7/1941 Pelee 139-13 2,263,148 11/1941 Valentine 13913 2,398,957 4/1946 Pelee 139--13 2,619,988 12/1952 Pelce 139--13.l 2,813,547 11/1957 Rabeux et al. l39l3 2,976,890 3/1961 Rabeux et al. 13913 FOREIGN PATENTS 495,932 11/1938 Great Britain. 304,846 1/1933 Italy.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

I. KEE CHI, Assistant Examiner,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,347,279 October 17, 1967 Armand Malchair It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

In the heading to the printed specification, lines 4 and 5, for "assignor to Societe Anonyme Iwan Simonis, S.A.,

Verviers, Belgium" read assignor, by mesne assignments, to Peltzer G Fils, S.A., societe anonyme, Verviers, Belgium a company of Belgium Signed and sealed this 17th day of December 1968.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD J. BRENNER Commissioner of Patents Edward M. Fletcher, J r.

Attesting Officer 

1. IN A CIRCULAR LOOM HAVING A WEAVING RING AND A PLURALITY OF SHUTTLES, A DEVICE FOR DRIVING AND BRAKING THE SHUTTLES, SAID DEVICE COMPRISING AN ANNULAR SECTION HAVING TWO LIMBS WITH HOLES FORMED THEREIN, A PLURALITY OF PUSH RODS SLIDABLE IN SAID HOLES, STOPS CARRIED BY SAID PUSH RODS AND ADAPTED TO ENGAGE SAID LIMBS, TWO SPACED ANNULAR MEMBERS, PINS CARRIED BY SAID ANNULAR MEMBERS AND HAVING ROUNDED CRESTS, A SHUTTLE-CARRYING PLATE, SLIDES CARRIED BY SAID PLATE AND ENGAGING THE CRESTS OF SAID PINS, SAID PINS FORMING A TRACK FOR THE SHUTTLE, MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID PLATE AND CONSECUTIVELY ENGAGED BY THE ENDS OF SAID PUSH RODS FOR MOVING SAID SHUTTLE-CARRYING PLATE, AND MOVABLE MEANS CONSECUTIVELY ENGAGING OPPOSITE ENDS OF SAID PUSH RODS FOR ACTUATING SAID PUSH RODS. 